More than two decades of working as an educator couldn’t prepare Juliet Herman for the night of January 7, when her school, Palisades Charter Elementary School, burnt to the ground, along with the homes of many of her students and teachers.

Wildfires devastated the Los Angeles community of the Pacific Palisades that night, destroying homes and businesses, transforming a neighborhood forever. Palisades Charter Elementary was among three schools that burned there. 

Palisades Charter Elementary has since moved to a temporary home at a school in Brentwood, while L.A. Unified executes a multi-year plan to replace its ravaged Palisades campus. 

In an interview with LA School Report, Herman shares how she’s keeping her school community together amid the loss and trauma of the worst wildfires in the city’s history.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

What did the burning of your school community and your school’s campus in January mean for the individual members of the community?

I remember thinking on that night, ‘I don’t know how to be the principal of a school that’s burned down,’ because that’s not actually in the principal playbook anywhere. They don’t teach you that in principal preparation school. 

I don’t actually know how many members of my school lost their homes. However, anyone who lived up in the Palisades has been displaced, and their lives changed inexorably since that moment. 

It certainly has changed all of us and brought us together in a really unique way.

How are your students and staff reacting to life at Brentwood Science Magnet (school) where your school was relocated after your original campus burned? 

It’s been a really great place for us to land. The students are very happy to be together. They’re very happy to be with their teachers. That’s really critical. They’re having a lot of fun. 

We didn’t have tetherball at our old school, so tetherball is a big hit. And the fact that the students get to just enjoy this great space is kind of amazing. 

So it’s been really joyful to watch the students interact with one another and process what’s been going on, and be together. 

Immediately after the school burned down and you knew that students wouldn’t be able to return very soon, did they immediately go to Brentwood Science Magnet? Or was there a period of online school or other transition?

The school was lost on the evening of January 7, and by the Friday of that week, I knew that we were coming to the Brentwood Science Magnet school. 

We had Monday and Tuesday of the following week for teachers to prepare, and on Wednesday, March 15, we opened our doors for students. 

So there was no online school. There was no real loss in continuity. I knew that when we had a return, it would be a rolling return because families were trying to organize themselves.

Do you think that’s led to the community staying together more easily than if there were a period of online learning? 

I think it has had a hugely positive effect on our community, and it has really been instrumental in laying the foundation for the healing process. We are not suddenly all better, but I think in-person learning really did provide continuity for kids.

How do you keep displaced families from leaving the school?  

On January 6, our enrollment was, I think, 406 students. And as of today, it’s about 350 students. I know that we lost a good number of students who moved out of the area pretty immediately. 

Then, there were a number of families who were displaced and unable to return. 

And then there are some other families who we’re in conversation with regarding their personal situations, and providing them options. 

How are you addressing trauma?

Students are still experiencing trauma. Teachers are still experiencing it. For all of us, we lost our school. This is a very, very, very significant event.  

The district has been wonderful about providing mental health support. We have several partnerships that we are working on and extra personnel from the district who have that background that can really support students, not just in this moment, not just for the next few months, but in the years to come.

How has this whole ordeal of the fire and relocating impacted academics and attendance?

We don’t really know yet about the impact for students. We’re preparing to take state tests, and we’re monitoring students to ensure they have support. I have an amazing faculty, and they are adapting and adjusting their instructional practices. 

In terms of attendance, this is a moment, again, where our old playbook is not really applied any longer. I know the district has been very focused on making sure students come to school. 

We do pretty well. We’re at about a 90% daily attendance rate. Sometimes we’re super flexible about when students arrive, because they may be coming from one place last week and a different place this week. 

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I’m super proud of the way that we have come together as a community. I’m super proud to work with Los Angeles Unified [School District] and have their support in addressing this crisis in a very thoughtful and careful and fast way to ensure that our students have a safe place to go to school. 

I’m happy to be at the Brentwood Science Magnet campus, and I look forward to whatever our next steps are. 

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

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